Neo-Pluralist Paradigm Flashcards
What was the prelude to the 1960s societal turmoil?
The end of ideology after a turbulent period
“Politics is now boring.(…) the fundamental political problems of the industrial revolution” no longer give rise to ideological disputes. (…) This very triumph of the democratic social revolution in the West ends domestic politics those intellectuals who must have ideologies
or utopias “
What were the blessings of the 1960s?
Mass consumption
Democratisation of luxury
New lifestyles
What did New Social Movements base themselves?
Civil Rights
Women’s Rights
Anti-War
Third World
Environmental issues
What did the New Social Movements combine?
substantive concerns on ‘their’ issue rooted in systemic analysis of issue area and society more generally.
Urge for democratisation; unconventional politics
Product of societal modernisation
What did the environmental movements do?
On specific issues, systemic background, challenging democratic system
What is the Denmark Wind Energy Movement
It was a movement which emerged in the 1950s about a renewable alternative to fossil fuel imports
Around 1960 it allied up with the democratisation movement so wind energy became something of systemic change. This was because it was decentral, community run social movement based on renewable sources which means independence from energy industry and government
It got further momentum during the debate on nuclear energy which is diagonally opposite to wind
What was the over-fertilisation problem in the Netherlands?
In 1968 there was a Man-Woman-Society Movement which revolved around more societal participation of women considering the current revolving of society around traditional family which yields gender inequality
In the mid 1970s there was this issue of eutrophication of surface waters which was leading to algae growth. It was thought to be related to use of detergents and therefore led to an attack on women as this was part of their traditional role. This led to about 200 women groups starting a movement because it wasn’t their fault for using the detergent, it was industry for making it non-environmentally friendly and they did not want to be forced by industry to pollute. It led to an investigation and they started making better detergents but in the end it was actually manure as the problem
This is why in 1981 manure was put on the political agenda as a problem
What is the Frankfurt School?
It’s key sources of theoretical inspiration were Marx, Weber, Freud etc (the greats in sociology) and key figures were Horkheimer, Marcuse, Adorno, Habermas
What were the key points of departure of the Frankfurt School?
Idea of critical theory
Link social critique with historicising social scientific analysis
Engaged, practical philosophy, contra value-free science
Generic social theory, beyond disciplinary fragmentation
Said that the 1950s was an end of repressive social order rather than the end of ideology or political harmony
What did Marcuse say about mass consumption society?
That the idea of capitalism and the production of things like the TV, the fridge, the car led to the alienation of workers from the products of their own labour and replaced it with consumerism. Idea of worship of technologies. This created a false consciousness and false needs
This therefore undermined the needed counterforces in the political system political passivity, adaptation of self to the system
Idea of Repressive Tolerance in 1965 where the tolerating as ‘freedom of speech’ views that are oppressive or ‘objectively false’
This is the idea of ‘tyranny of the majority’ which justifies undemocratic means
Who is Habermas?
A German philosopher and sociologist
His core interest was truth as consensus achieved through rational debate
What was Habermas’ key distinction?
Between the lifeworld and system world
The lifeworld is the social sphere which comprises our interactions with family and society at large. It focusses on communicative rationality which is a conversation where people sincerely question each other and scrutinise own arguments and assumptions
The system world is the professional sphere in which we world and or interact with institutional authority: economy, bureaucracy. It emphasises instrumental rationality about ends-means relations, efficiency etc.
What is the public sphere?
It is the places where people can discuss matters of mutual concern as peers, and learn about facts, events, and the opinions, interests, and perspectives of others in an atmosphere free of coercion and of inequalities that would incline individuals to acquiesce or be silent. This involvement develops individual autonomy; is a learning process; and creates a politically relevant public opinion.
Thus it is a place for emancipation as well as inclusive reflexive discussion of collective issues and social change
Eckersley - Such mechanisms are not only ends in themselves but also means to enhance the reflexive learning potential of both the state and civil society and the economy: ideally lifeworld rationality shapes system world ‘behind our backs’
How did the public sphere evolve according to Habermas?
C18 bourgeois society was the optimal public sphere because of free space for rational discussion independent and separate from polity
But because of Gemeinschaft shifting to Gesellschaft and capitalist structure to competition and self interest and mass media, the lifeworld became colonised by the system world. This meant the lifeworld in terms of leisure, family life, sexual relations, have all become targets of commodification
The system world became decoupled from lifeworld. Its discourses are ‘indifferent to the dynamics of cultural reproduction, social integration and socialisation necessary for the development and reproduction of lifeworlds’
Therefore, how did the public sphere transform?
The system world discourses came to ‘seem to the individual to be natural and common sense; indifferent to the individual; beyond her/his control; and not subject to communicative action’
Therefore needed a public sphere which again offers conditions for herrschaftfreie Kommunikation.
Key asset of civil society with grassroots initiatives, movements etc. that may awaken ‘the ‘sleeping gallery’ or ‘the public sphere at rest’… in ways that carry the potential to ‘shift the entire system’s mode of problem solving’
What did Easton’s model of a stable democratic system show?
Changing demands and support from different groups led to continuous dynamics
Outcome yield support, support generates stable democracy.
Process maintains support for the rules of the game
Model o f research into political systems
In this period, what was the wake up call for political scientists?
Unconventional politics demonstrated that the political system was not equally open to all demands and therefore could end up under attack
Academic reflections on these events like from the Frankfurt School. Whose consensus? from where? what for? Science must not be value-free but rather engaged, critical historicist, practically relevant
The responses were reformed pluralism (tried to save pluralism) and neo-pluralism (reviewing pluralist theory, taking these experiences and ideas into account)
What do Richardson and Jordan say about Reformed Pluralism?
That is recognises the differences in interest between groups.
They conceptualise this through policy community: social groups with routinised relations with government; cooptive and consensual style e.g. UK and NL agricultural iron triangle
vs issue network - large number of participants with quite variable degrees of dependence on others; open, fluid and dynamic style
What does Smith say about Richardson and Jordan’s perspective of Reformed Pluralism?
That they pledge to restore conditions for pluralism
That they acknowledge countervailing power of policy community and adaptability of networks but these undermine their proposed solutions
